1 Registry Star
Part:BBa_J33204
xylE reporter gene with rbs
This part includes the xylE gene from the Pseudomonas putida TOL (naphthalene and xylene degradadative plasmid) pWW0. This gene encodes the enzyme catechol-2,3-dioxygenase (metapyrocatechase), which converts catechol to the bright yellow product 2-hydroxy-cis,cis-muconic semialdehyde. This is a useful reporter gene; colonies or broths expressing active XylE, in the presence of oxygen, will rapidly convert catechol, a cheap colourless substrate, to a bright yellow compound with an absorbance maximum around 377 nm. The part includes the native ribosome binding site, so simply needs to be added after a suitable promoter to act as a reporter. I have previously used this gene to generate whole cell biosensors for various heavy metals. Note that, unlike Xgal etc., catechol in solution is prone to spontaneous oxidation resulting in brown melanin-like polymeric products, so is not stable enough to incorporate into plates or growth media; it should be dripped onto colonies (I use 10 mM catechol in water for this) or added to liquid cultures at a final concentration of about 0.5 mM prior to assay. Note also that there is a SacI site at the very start of the part, when the prefix is included, so this can be used as a replacement vector to introduce PCR products with SacI-SpeI ends into pSB1A2 giving them full Biobrick prefixes and suffixes (but don't forget the G base before the SpeI site). This results in shorter non-complementary tails on PCR primers than using a full prefix or suffix. You can test for colonies that have lost xylE using catechol as described above.
Sequence and Features
- 10COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
- 12COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
- 21COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]
- 23COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
- 25INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]Illegal NgoMIV site found at 337
Illegal NgoMIV site found at 509
Illegal AgeI site found at 860 - 1000COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]
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